National Republican., 1887-05-24

enterprise will of necessity be abandoned.
/ In short, cooperative associations for the
/ prosecution of any undertaking stand in
exactly the same relation, possess precisely
/ the same chances of success, If the effort Is
as intelligeutly directed, us do the same
| Kind Of enterprises projected by individuals
aud sustained by capital.
ENTERPRISE AND INTELLIGENCE OF EN-.
pLoYERs.
"As between the two great plans, the
co operation OF labor or the employment OF
| labor by itself, and the hiring OF labor for
wages or employment Of labor by enter
prise, intelligence, and capital, the latter
mas NO advantage over the former IN the
| way of Il guarantee ms against loss. The
! product OF labor alone insures It's EN-
. ployment, because employment OF labor
cannot continue beyond the point
at which II Is profitable. In the aggre'
gate, labor produces all the money paid back
To II IN wages nnu all the margin Of profit
which inures to the employer. 1t is pre-.
cminenlly right and just that the employers
OF labor aud capital employed In producing
activity should be rewarded. Labor owes
continuing debt Of gratitude to the enter.
prise and intelligence of the employer class.
the attention thought, intelligence, and
skill necessary to originate profitable labor
is In fact separate department of human
intelligent than now, when the opportuni-
ties for education among workingmen were
more restricted and limited than ut present,
an intelligent employer class originating
and directing labor was Indispensable.
"What | believe is, that the time has
come when the laboring men can perform
for themselves the office of becoming their
own employers; that the employer class
their own employers; that the employer
class is less indispensable In the modern or
ganization of industries, because the labor
ing men themselves possess sufficient In
telligence to organize into cooperative
relation aud enjoy the entire benefits of
their own labor Whenever labor is sufli.
ciently INTEL igent to do this, IL should not
wait patiently for it's own employment by
capital and enterprise, because whoever is
competent to furnish himself employm4n 4nt
, and thereby receive the full result of his
own effort and hires out his time, is
thereby rendering voluntary servitude
, to capital and every man possessed
of industrial capacity is In possession of
capital, for Ii Is out OF that industrial capa-
city that capital is sustained in activity.
Sufficient productive capacity may be asso-
ciatcd for the prosecution of almost any en-
terprlse, however great It's magnitude, be-
: cause, as we have already seen, the en-
: ployment of labor by capital is in a sense a
u form of assOci tting labOrin the prosecution
: of undertakings, the difference between
II that voluntary association OF labor into co.
5 operative relation secures to itself both the
u wages aud the premium which, under the
: other form of industrial organization,
9 would be paid to the enterprise directing II
:, and to the capital giving 1t employment
', Capital appears to have an ascendancy ovei
u labor, and so long as our industries are or
d ganized upon the divisions OF employer aud
II employe, so long will capital retain that
J. rnl h1t nGsppiatp1 labor yypIIlI "a
once become its own master.
pELusIvE THEORIES OF POLITICAL ECON
le oMIsTs.
in The political economists and the com
20 munists have much to say concerning til,
,s distribution of wealth. They are constant,
Z declaring that while our country presents
~ the spectacle of government wherein ther,
pr is an equal distribution of political power
m there is great disparity of condition will
i reference to the possession Of wealth. Man,
al writers upon the science of political econ
ID omy have declared that 1t is the duty of {
q nation first to encourage the creation o
10 Its distribution. All such theories ar,
te delusive. The production of wealth
ar is the result of agreement between
In labor and capital, between employer ant
y. employed. Its distribution, therefore, viii
Is follow the law of its creation, or great in
n. justice will be done. The individual who
"a comes to you claiming that because yot
or have more than himself you should divid
rs part with him, is claiming percentage
re in your manhood, share in your produc
n. tive capacity. He is denying to you tn
ar right to produce, either with your owl
n. labor, as you have right to do, or throug
81 the employment of the labor of Others
q. which you have an equal right to do, NOR
ar than bare subsistence for yourself. Tn
.N.tI, ~ Il, ttFht tab ta h
product Of labor, which will be honest, will
d. come through more equal distribution @
N the productive capacity OF men, and tn
nd co operative principle leads directly to tni
We consummation.
SO "All legislative experiments In the wa
a. OF making forcible distribution of tn
he wealth produced In any country have failed
on Their first effect has been to destro
,s. wealth, to destroy productive industries, I
w. paralyze enterprise, aud to infict upo
nj labor the greatest calamities 1t has ever Ell
"a countered. So long as labor, which
So sufficiently intelligent to originate its ow
nd employment. consents to voluntary serv
he tude OF paying premium to those who
90. originate its employments, so long will I'll
les many remain comparatively poor. As
an present organized, the industries OF tt
on world are under the direction of employer
re- \ man may possess industi
in and productive capacity and skill, but |
lse must first make an agreement with an en-
al. ployer before he can make these qualiti
valuable to himself. When the Lord of Il
mr. Vineyard at the eleventh hour of the di
,es found the idlers In the market-place, ar
err. questioned them concerning the reason
NO their ideness, the reply was Because l
nd, man hath hired u.s. They were waitin
nor Just as a very large percentage OF u
,at laboring world has waited, for some oi
to else TO open avenues of employment.
nj. "But aggregated into Co operative rel
NE tion, intelligent, educated labor possess,
IN. the capacity for the accomplishment of al
mr. undertaking or enterprise, and need n
In wait for an individual called an employer
,ad associate its effort, and direct ard contr
icb the industry out of which 1t earns wag
and paws premium to capital. Under Il
present organization Of our industrial sy
tenn IL is idle to say that the men in d
,Ii market place could have found somethir
tlt. to do. 1t is equally idle to say that the
nd was conflict between their interest al
roe that of the Lord of the Vineyard who ga
i've them employment, He was In that
To stance their benefactor.
!ty NO NATURAL CONFLICT BETWEEN CAPT..
I'm AND LABOR.
ion "But intelligent labor need not wait un
s 1t some man has hired It, 1t can by {
ual operation employ itself There are mi
IN. and factories and workshops employil
ad large numbers of skilled hands, where
the the capital employed is far less than t
an aggregate of many owned ana controll
I'M by the operatives, and yet the operatives
ase their own voluntary consent are depen
the ent for employment entirely up,
ris the thought, the intelligence, al
by the enterprise OF an employer.
red cannot be denied that they receive rate
he'd wages calculated upon the basis of a pr
to ductive industry which will create t
wages paid to them, and also create a pro
are to the capital and enterprise employi